Seth's carbon dioxide levels have been gradually going down throughout the day and the last report tonight is that he is at 45%, which is within the normal range. His oxygen is a bit high at 50-60%, but he is stable and resting well. Thank you for your continued prayers for Him.
David and Will are both in their own little beds now! It's great to be able to see them and touch them more intimately, instead of having to look and reach through the plexiglass. Carrie's having fun picking out clothes from here at home to take to them, since they can now wear normal baby clothes when they're in the open beds.
Grace is doing fine still off of the ventilator. She's at 30% oxygen and doing well.
Marcie is doing great on her CPAP machine.
Isaac had a great time with his friend Peter last night and today with another sleepover.
Gavin
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Seth's CO2
Carrie just got to the hospital and Seth's carbon dioxide levels are very high at 84% and the staff are very concerned. Please pray with us for our little guy! Thank you all!
Thursday, September 13, 2012
quick update
Again, no news is good news (or simply no news). I didn't get home from the NICU until 9 last night. I got to hold Grace for over 2.5 hours!! So sweet - she really seemed to like it! I sure did. :)
Seth is MUCH better, praise God and thanks for praying! He's at 42% oxygen and well-expanded, although his lungs are chronically damaged (chronic being weeks or months, possibly years, to fully heal) as they have been these past few weeks. His carbon dioxide and other blood gases have been good enough to allow for oscillator weaning, for which we are grateful.
[The oscillator can be used for even several more weeks, the neonatologist said yesterday. I thought he had to get off of it, but it's just that the staff were trying to see if he could tolerate a step down to a regular ventilator in hopes they could extubate him before too long to CPAP mask (all the equipment that the healthier babies need as it delivers pressure and helps them remember to breath, but also covers their faces - all but Will's now, as he's just on the cannula - and looks WORSE than the ventilator tubes! But CPAP is a huge step in the right direction.)]
Speaking of extubating, Gracie is ready! She is on minimal settings only and is more bugged by the tube than helped, it seems at this point. Please pray for wisdom for the staff as to when they should take her off the ventilator and move her to the mask, and please pray for an excellent transition.
Grace is the size her big brother Will was when he was born! 1200 g, or two pounds ten ounces. Praise God and pray she keeps growing, please. She was hungry yesterday and got all squirrely before her feeding. :)
The other three are thriving. We are so grateful!
Pictures later . . .
Love and gratitude,
Carrie
Seth is MUCH better, praise God and thanks for praying! He's at 42% oxygen and well-expanded, although his lungs are chronically damaged (chronic being weeks or months, possibly years, to fully heal) as they have been these past few weeks. His carbon dioxide and other blood gases have been good enough to allow for oscillator weaning, for which we are grateful.
[The oscillator can be used for even several more weeks, the neonatologist said yesterday. I thought he had to get off of it, but it's just that the staff were trying to see if he could tolerate a step down to a regular ventilator in hopes they could extubate him before too long to CPAP mask (all the equipment that the healthier babies need as it delivers pressure and helps them remember to breath, but also covers their faces - all but Will's now, as he's just on the cannula - and looks WORSE than the ventilator tubes! But CPAP is a huge step in the right direction.)]
Speaking of extubating, Gracie is ready! She is on minimal settings only and is more bugged by the tube than helped, it seems at this point. Please pray for wisdom for the staff as to when they should take her off the ventilator and move her to the mask, and please pray for an excellent transition.
Grace is the size her big brother Will was when he was born! 1200 g, or two pounds ten ounces. Praise God and pray she keeps growing, please. She was hungry yesterday and got all squirrely before her feeding. :)
The other three are thriving. We are so grateful!
Pictures later . . .
Love and gratitude,
Carrie
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Seth, again
Just got off the phone with the hospital: Seth is back on the oscillator, which apparently is upsetting him enough for them to put him on sedation/pain meds every 2 hours. He is needing more pressure and more oxygen than he did before they moved him off the oscillator two days ago. He's in the 70%'s for oxygen requirement and 16.5 on pressure (vs. 12).
It's discouraging to me to know he's worse than he was, that this move ended up hurting rather than helping, but I understand why they tried the move. I, too, hoped and thought he was ready! His lungs and alveoli are just too immature to rhythmically expand and exhale yet, so the oscillator with its higher, more constant pressure, is what he needs for now.
Please pray for Seth's comfort and healing, for excellent re-recruitment of the lung tissue that has collapsed/inflamed over the past two days, and most of all for growth of new, healthy lung tissue! I realize we cannot and should not try to dictate what the Lord is doing, however. We trust His character and know He loves these babies more than we can imagine.
Thank you all,
Carrie
It's discouraging to me to know he's worse than he was, that this move ended up hurting rather than helping, but I understand why they tried the move. I, too, hoped and thought he was ready! His lungs and alveoli are just too immature to rhythmically expand and exhale yet, so the oscillator with its higher, more constant pressure, is what he needs for now.
Please pray for Seth's comfort and healing, for excellent re-recruitment of the lung tissue that has collapsed/inflamed over the past two days, and most of all for growth of new, healthy lung tissue! I realize we cannot and should not try to dictate what the Lord is doing, however. We trust His character and know He loves these babies more than we can imagine.
Thank you all,
Carrie
Video about roles in Bible translation
Check out this video of the needs and opportunities there are in the task of Bible Translation. All the footage in this video was taken in PNG and we know most of the people who show up in it. It sure made me homesick to see it all. I actually have a couple cameos in it, too . . .
Gavin
Gavin
A few steps backwards, but still ok
After the excitement of getting Seth off the oscillator and Will and David off the CPAP machines, today wasn't as positive.
Seth was struggling to handle the lower pressure settings of the ventilator and so this afternoon they had to put him back on the oscillator.
David, too, was having too many bradycardia events (he would forget to breath and his heart rate would drop dramatically), so he was put back on the CPAP machine.
Will, though, is still doing great on just the nasal cannula, so that's encouraging. Though they suspected he had NEC with the bloody stools yesterday, everything else indicates he's just fine, so they are thinking it might just be a food intolerance of some kind. Either way, to be safe, they have him on antibiotics and have stopped his feeds.
Marcie is doing great and they have moved her from the SIPAP machine, which gives reminder breaths down to the CPAP machine.
Grace continues to do well and gradually improve. She has gained a small amount of weight-- we'll take anything we can get in that area. She's still not up to Will's birth weight!
The doctor spoke with us for a while and was very encouraging. In regards to Seth and David, he reassured us that their step backwards is not unexpected. They just weren't ready yet to make the leap to less breathing assistance. While Seth's lungs are very immature and inflamed, the lungs continue to grow until 12 years old, so Lord willing none of this will be permanent. We know that other issues could pop up, but as they are now, things are ok. We are so very grateful for Seth's good eye exam yesterday and for the good brain scans of a few weeks ago on all the kids. We are also grateful for Seth's "excellent" physical exam today. Aside from his lungs, he's really healthy!
We are praying for each of them and asking God to heal them and grow them in every way and we know He will glorify himself in His most perfect plan. Thank you for your part in all of this!
Gavin
Seth was struggling to handle the lower pressure settings of the ventilator and so this afternoon they had to put him back on the oscillator.
David, too, was having too many bradycardia events (he would forget to breath and his heart rate would drop dramatically), so he was put back on the CPAP machine.
Will, though, is still doing great on just the nasal cannula, so that's encouraging. Though they suspected he had NEC with the bloody stools yesterday, everything else indicates he's just fine, so they are thinking it might just be a food intolerance of some kind. Either way, to be safe, they have him on antibiotics and have stopped his feeds.
Marcie is doing great and they have moved her from the SIPAP machine, which gives reminder breaths down to the CPAP machine.
Grace continues to do well and gradually improve. She has gained a small amount of weight-- we'll take anything we can get in that area. She's still not up to Will's birth weight!
The doctor spoke with us for a while and was very encouraging. In regards to Seth and David, he reassured us that their step backwards is not unexpected. They just weren't ready yet to make the leap to less breathing assistance. While Seth's lungs are very immature and inflamed, the lungs continue to grow until 12 years old, so Lord willing none of this will be permanent. We know that other issues could pop up, but as they are now, things are ok. We are so very grateful for Seth's good eye exam yesterday and for the good brain scans of a few weeks ago on all the kids. We are also grateful for Seth's "excellent" physical exam today. Aside from his lungs, he's really healthy!
We are praying for each of them and asking God to heal them and grow them in every way and we know He will glorify himself in His most perfect plan. Thank you for your part in all of this!
Gavin
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| Will looking around alertly |
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| Will's hand in Gavin's |
Monday, September 10, 2012
Nasal cannulas!! :)
Will and David have made the transition successfully so far, thank God! It was so much fun to see their faces the whole time today. What a surprise to find David has very light hair! Will's the only one with dark hair after all. By the way: Will may just have some inflammation and bowel dilation rather than actual NEC, thank God. He's still on bowel rest and receiving treatment to be safe, of course.
Please pray both boys (especially David) continue to tolerate the cannula and don't have low heart rate episodes or forget to breathe.
Please pray both boys (especially David) continue to tolerate the cannula and don't have low heart rate episodes or forget to breathe.
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| Sleepy David gets a kiss from Dad |
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| Happy Dad! |
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| Big stretch! David again |
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| Time for bed! David yet again |
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| Will at last |
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| Will nestled into Dad's arm |
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| The boys: Will on Gavin's left, David on his right |
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Gavin, Carrie, Isaac, Will, David, Marcie, Seth, & Grace Jones
